Not long after I moved to South Dakota in 2017, the Keystone I pipeline ruptured in Marshall County, near Amherst, South Dakota. Two years later, it leaked in North Dakota, as we reported in Keystone pipeline leaks again--this time in ND .
Now there's another. HuffPost reports Kansas Creek Oil Spill Biggest In Keystone Pipeline History.
At Dakota Free Press, Cory Allen Heidelberger reports in Keystone Pipeline Leaks Again, Suffering 625-Year Spill in 13th Year of Operation:
In 2007, Transcanada told the Public Utilities Commission that the Keystone pipeline it planned to build through eastern South Dakota on its way from Alberta to depots in Illinois and Oklahoma would average 1.5 leaks every 10 years and spills of 10,000 barrels just once every six centuries:
Of the postulated maximum of 1.5 spills along the Keystone Pipeline system during a 10-year period, the project-specific spill and volume study’s findings suggest that approximately 0.3 spills would be 50 barrels1 or less; 0.5 spills would consist of between 50 and 1,000 barrels; 0.5 spills would consist of between 1,000 and 10,000 barrels; and 0.2 spills would contain more than 10,000 barrels (Appendix A).
…The most extensive database of pipeline spills less than 50 barrels is maintained by the State of California (CSFM 1993). Based on these historical data, the estimated occurrence intervals for a spill of 50 barrels or less occurring anywhere along the entire pipeline system is once every 9 years, a spill between 50 and 1,000 barrels might occur once in 38 years; a spill of 1,000 and 10,000 barrels might occur once in 89 years; and a spill containing more than 10,000 barrels might occur once in 625 years. Applying these statistics to a 1-mile section, the chances of a large spill (greater than 10,000 barrels) would be less than once every 857,000 years per mile [ENSR Corporation, “Pipeline Risk Assessment and Environmental Consequence Analysis,” Document No. 10623-004, March 2007].
In just its 13th year of operation, the Keystone pipeline on Wednesday spewed 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas . . .
TransCanada, now TC Energy, has some problems with math. When the Keystone pipeline ruptured in Marshall County, South Dakota, in November 2017, the company originally said they spilled 5,000 barrels, then admitted four months later the spill was closer to 9,700 barrels.
Of course, we can’t send reporters in to survey and estimate the damage. As happened with the Keystone pipeline’s previous spills, Transcanada, now TC Energy, has blocked public access to the site and taken over law enforcement.
Water is life, our water protector friends say.
Related posts
- Keystone pipeline leaks again--this time in ND
- More land affected by Keystone leak than first thought; congressmen seek pipeline review
- TransCanada's risk assessment estimated tiny spills "no more than once every 41 years” in SD
Photo: That Keystone I oil spill near Amherst, South Dakota, third leak in the Dakotas stretch of the pipeline in seven years.
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